Deva Path Pain's furious roar thundered through the rainy night.
Yet the terrifying repulsive force that should have sent Chiya flying and even destroyed the tower did not erupt immediately. At that instant, the formation of the Six Paths of Pain shifted ever so slightly to coordinate their killing blow.
Although Deva Path Pain possessed the strongest repulsive force, his ability had a five-second cooldown.
To leave nothing to chance, Nagato controlled the other Pains and launched a probing yet lethal assault first!
"Die, intruder!"
The bald, towering Asura Path Pain suddenly stepped forward, shielding the Deva Path.
Clack, clack, clack!
The teeth-grating sound of mechanical transformation rang out.
The skin on the Asura Path's back tore open in an instant, revealing rows of strange, sawtoothed metal tails. His shoulders, elbows, and even the top of his head split apart, exposing densely packed, pitch-black cannon muzzles.
This was no ninja.
He was a walking humanoid weapon!
"Flaming Arrow of Amazing Ability: Full Salvo!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-!!!
With piercing whistles, over a dozen chakra missiles trailed long plumes of flame as they swarmed like venomous wasps leaving their nest. Bearing the momentum to destroy everything, they sealed off every possible escape route around Chiya.
These missiles were not ordinary gunpowder weapons, but homing projectiles packed with highly compressed chakra. A single hit had enough power to level half a city block!
"Chiya! Watch out! Those are homing missiles!"
Behind him, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and shouted in terror. In his vision, the missiles' chakra signatures were frighteningly intense. He probably could not withstand even one.
And yet.
Faced with this overwhelming rain of missiles, Chiya simply stood where he was, his black robes snapping in the fierce wind.
Watching the missiles race toward him, he curled his lips into a scornful smile.
"Missiles?"
"Bringing this kind of nasty tech into a world built around ninjutsu is certainly creative."
"Unfortunately..."
Chiya's right hand slowly tightened around Ryūjin Jakka's hilt.
"Before absolute heat, every law of physics must be rewritten."
The next second.
Chiya vanished into thin air.
There was no afterimage left by the high-speed movement of a Body Flicker Technique. He vanished completely, as though erased from this dimension.
Boom, boom, boom!
With their target gone, the missiles hurtled onward under their own momentum and slammed into the ground where Chiya had been standing.
Violent explosions sent flames and smoke soaring into the sky, blasting the steel deck full of holes.
"Did they hit him?" Floating in the distance, Konan stared anxiously into the center of the smoke.
"No... they didn't."
Deva Path Pain's Rinnegan narrowed slightly.
Through the Rinnegan's shared vision, Nagato discovered to his horror that a millisecond before the missiles exploded, that man had crossed the distance through space and appeared... right before the Asura Path!
Within arm's reach!
"Too slow."
Chiya's voice sounded beside the Asura Path's ear like the whisper of the Death God.
Although the Asura Path was a corpse puppet, his reactions under Nagato's control were extremely fast.
"Close combat? You're asking to die!"
Expressionless, the Asura Path instantly extended a sharp chakra chainsaw from the end of his only remaining mechanical arm. With a piercing buzz, he drove it viciously toward Chiya's neck!
This was what made the Asura Path so terrifying.
His entire body was a weapon, as hard as diamond-a machine born solely for slaughter. Ordinary kunai and ninjutsu could not leave so much as a mark on him.
"Is this what you're relying on? A body of steel?"
Chiya watched the rapidly approaching chainsaw, a red gleam flashing briefly in his eyes.
"Then let me show you..."
"What it means to be melted apart."
Chiya swung Ryūjin Jakka without any flourish.
There was no earthshaking sea of fire.
Only a dazzlingly bright golden line along the blade.
The instant Ryūjin Jakka's edge touched the Asura Path's chakra chainsaw.
Sss-!!!
There was no clang of colliding metal.
Only the smooth sound of a hot knife slicing through butter.
The chainsaw the Asura Path took such pride in, forged from a special alloy, turned straight into glowing red molten metal the instant it touched Ryūjin Jakka!
The intense heat rapidly spread along the chainsaw.
"Wha...?!"
Nagato did not even have time to make the Asura Path retreat.
Slash!
Chiya's strike cut through everything in its path.
First, it melted through the chainsaw. Then it sliced through the Asura Path's arm, before finally cutting diagonally across half his torso.
The intense heat erupted in an instant.
The missiles, mechanisms, and gears inside the Asura Path were detonated and vaporized by heat reaching six thousand degrees at the very moment they were severed!
"Physical immunity? A body of steel?"
Chiya drew back his blade as a muffled explosion sounded behind him.
The Asura Path's massive body disintegrated from the cut, collapsing into a heap of scrap still streaming molten metal.
"What a joke."
Chiya spat the words coldly.
One strike!
The Asura Path, responsible for the Six Paths of Pain's physical attacks, was completely destroyed!
"Impossible... the temperature of that blade..."
Deva Path Pain's expression finally changed.
He could feel the sensation transmitted by the Asura Path in his final moment, as though even his soul were burning. It sent a shudder of dread through Nagato's real body.
"We can't let him get close!"
Nagato immediately changed tactics.
Since physical attacks were ineffective, he would use the bane of ninjutsu!
"Preta Path! Go!"
Whoosh!
The broad, heavyset Preta Path Pain, who had been hiding at the rear, suddenly shot forward like a cannonball.
He spread his arms, aimed his palms at Chiya, and wore a greedy, sinister grin.
The Preta Path's ability-Sealing Technique: Absorption Seal.
This was one of the Rinnegan's heaven-defying abilities, capable of absorbing all ninjutsu chakra in the world. Whether Fire Release, Water Release, or Rasengan, everything became nourishment before him.
To Nagato, no matter how powerful Chiya Uchiha's flames were, they were ultimately still "Fire Release" formed from chakra.
As long as it was chakra, the Preta Path could drain it dry!
"You want to absorb my power?"
Watching the Preta Path charge straight toward him, Chiya did not retreat. Instead, he stopped walking.
His Mangekyō Sharingan slowly rotated as an utterly vicious smile spread across his face.
"What an interesting idea."
"Then I'll give you a chance."
Chiya did not use Flash Step to evade. He let the Preta Path rush up to him, seize him around the waist, and clamp both hands tightly onto his shoulders.
"Got him!"
Nagato's heart leaped with joy.
With physical contact, the Preta Path could drain his opponent's chakra in an instant!
"Sealing Technique: Absorption Seal: Devour!"
Hum!
The chakra shield around the Preta Path lit up, and a powerful suction surged madly into Chiya's body through his palms.
And yet.
The next second.
The joy froze on Nagato's face.
He discovered that what he was drawing out of Chiya's body was not gentle, blue chakra.
Instead, it was a torrent of... scalding, violent, magma-like golden reiatsu!
"Urgh!!"
A muffled groan of agony escaped the Preta Path's throat. His hands began smoking, and his skin reddened and charred at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"What's happening?!"
Nagato was utterly horrified.
This energy... was too hot!
It was not merely high in temperature; it also contained an extraordinarily domineering will to destroy. Although the Preta Path's absorption technique could absorb chakra, it was like a person drinking water. If molten metal were poured down his throat instead, could his stomach withstand it?!
"What's wrong? Can't absorb any more?"
Chiya looked down at the Preta Path, who clung tightly to him while trembling all over.
"Since you love absorbing so much..."
"I'll do you a kindness and feed you until you're full."
Chiya took a reverse grip on Ryūjin Jakka's hilt.
His movements were elegant and cruel.
He did not hesitate in the slightest.
"Shhk!"
Chiya drove the blade, blazing with golden flames, straight into the Preta Path's open mouth!
Through his throat!
Deep into his abdomen!
"Swallow... it!!!"
Boom-!!!
With Chiya's fierce shout, the explosive flame reiatsu that Ryūjin Jakka had long been storing surged along the blade and erupted inside the Preta Path without restraint!
"Mmph, mmph, mmph!!!"
The Preta Path's eyeballs instantly bulged, and his eye sockets split open.
His body swelled violently like a balloon inflated to its limit.
Countless rays of golden light shot from his eyes, ears, nostrils, and even the pores of his skin!
Those were flames!
Red Lotus Karmic Fire, burning every internal organ from the inside out!
Sealing Technique: Absorption Seal?
Before this reiatsu that could burn even souls to ash, his so-called absorption was nothing more than setting himself ablaze!
"Aaaaah!!!"
Even a corpse without any sense of pain let out an utterly harrowing scream at that moment. It was Nagato's cry of agony as his mental connection suffered a devastating blow.
"No... sever the connection! Sever it now!!"
Nagato roared frantically from his real body.
But it was already too late.
In just three seconds.
Beneath Chiya's blade, the Preta Path's corpulent body rapidly shriveled and carbonized. Finally, a gust of wind reduced him to a human-shaped heap of black ash that scattered around Chiya's feet.
Not a single intact bone remained.
"Pah."
Chiya pulled out his blade and flicked away ash that was not even there.
He looked at the heap of black ash with a chillingly indifferent gaze.
"Quite an appetite. Shame you couldn't digest it."
The entire scene fell deathly silent.
Apart from the rain, there was not a sound.
In the distance, Sasuke and Izumi were already staring in stunned disbelief, having forgotten even to breathe.
Too brutal!
There was simply no answer to him!
Physical defense? Melted through with one slash!
Ninjutsu absorption? Burst from the inside!
How was this a battle? It was nothing but a one-sided slaughter!
Chiya stood in the rain. Two of the Six Paths of Pain-the Asura Path and the Preta Path-were now gone.
He raised his head, his scarlet eyes sweeping over the wreckage strewn across the ground to Deva Path Pain, who floated in midair with a livid expression.
"So, who's next?"
Chiya raised his blade, its tip pointed straight at Deva Path Pain's nose from afar.
"Or..."
"Are you worthless bastards planning to come at me all at once?"
"Come on. Don't waste my time."
"My blade hasn't even warmed up yet."
Before you continue